LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Kevin Tway birdied his last five holes, three in a playoff, to win his first US PGA Tour title on Sunday at the Safeway Open, where Brandt Snedeker squandered a five-shot lead in the final round.
Tway rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the third hole of sudden death to win the first event of the US tour’s 2018-19 season over Ryan Moore at Silverado Resort in Napa, California.
Snedeker, who started the day with a three-shot lead and led by five with 11 remaining in regulation, fell by the wayside with a par at the first playoff hole.
Moore matched Tway’s birdies at the first and second playoff holes, before succumbing at the third – the par-four 10th.
‘‘I’m kind of at a loss for words,’’ said Tway, the 30-year-old son of 1986 PGA Championship winner Bob Tway.
‘‘I think I birdied my last five holes – that always helps.’’
He had birdied 17 and 18 in regulation to complete a one-under par 71 at Silverado Resort in Napa, California, finishing tied with Moore and Snedeker on 14-under par 274.
Snedeker started the day with a three-shot lead and stretched the advantage to five after birdies at the fifth and seventh before slumping with four bogeys on the back nine.
That included three in a row at 10, 11 and 12, and that was enough to see his lead evaporate as Moore birdied 15, 16 and 18 to reach 14-under with a five-under par final-round of 67.
‘‘I was just able to put together a round of golf,’’ said Moore, who had six birdies and just one bogey. ‘‘On a day like today it’s not about necessarily how you’re swinging, it’s about how you just get the ball in the hole and somehow I managed to do that.’’
Snedeker briefly regained a one-shot lead with a birdie at the par-five 16th, where he rolled in a 10-foot putt.
But he immediately gave the shot back at the 17th, where he was far left off the tee and in the pine straw under a tree. He found a bunker at the par-five 18th and settled for a par and a two-over 74.
